The rumor surfaced in a post by someone called "EndTimes" on the posting board of producer Don Murphy.

"After a test screening wherein the film tested the lowest score ever from an audience in the history of Paramount, the executive who pushed for the movie Brad Weston had Stephen Sommers, the super hack director of the film fired. Removed. Locked out of the editing room," the post said.

According to the rumor, the studio brought in Stuart Baird to edit the film into releasable shape, with Paramount's input.

"It's very unfair to Steve, it's completely untrue. He was never asked to leave or been fired or any of that," di Bonaventura told Latino Review. "That's ridiculous. The movie tested very well."

He added: "It hurts a guy's career when people go around talking about that he was fired or he didn't do a good job, and truth is he did a really good job. People are going to enjoy the movie, and the test audiences enjoyed the movie."